(continued from previous issue)

Almost all of her Yoga 1 students raised their hands. Her following class was Yoga 3, many of whom had been studying yoga for years and had a strong home practice and devotion to the subject. When she asked them , she remembers that only one person raised his hand! How then does yoga help us to learn not to live out of fear?

She writes: yoga has something to say about living in fear. Ultimately the yogic path is about recognizing our own divine nature, directly experiencing in our normal everyday lives that we and the Divine are One. It is the merging of our own individual consciousness with that of the Divine, in whatever form one chooses to see and experience the Divine. Yoga tells us that in order for this to happen, we must do several things: we first must practise diligently and with devotion (abhyasa). "Practice" refers to sadhana or spiritual practices, asana and praïayama, which prepare us for the practice of meditation. Second, we must step back from and gain perspective on the ego's agenda, meaning not getting swept up in the entanglement of desire. Practicing non-attachment is called vairagya. We hang out with conscious, loving, generally positive people (satsañga). The two major texts of Yogic philosophy, The Bhagavad Gita and the Sutras of Patanjali each have wonderful teachings on fear. The Gita is very clear that non-attachment does not mean living without passion. It states clearly that we must do our duty, including fighting for just causes when necessary and right. The path of the yogi is not passive. What we are also called to do, however, the Gita tells us, is to release the fruits of those actions, not an easy task by any means. It teaches us to step into our fears but with non-attachment to the results. "He from whom the world does not shrink, and who does not shrink from the world, who is freed from joy, envy, fear and distress, is dear to Me"

The Sutras of Patanjali tell us there are five main obstructions (klesas) or struggles on the spiritual path. The fifth is fear of loss or death (Abhinivesa). This includes the fear of the familiar coming to an end, fear of losing what one has, fear of the effects of a disease, the fear of annihilation, of ceasing to be. In order to be free from this obstruction we must see clearly into the true nature of things. Of the 108 sutras, only three address the postures (asanas) of yoga. All the rest deal with the nature of the mind. The first of these three says the posture should be steady and comfortable. The second says it is accompanied by the relaxations of tension and the coinciding with the infinite. And the third states that when the first two have been achieved, the pairs of opposites (happiness-sorrow, heat-cold, honour-dishonour, profit-los, etc) cease to have an impact. In other words, we go beyond our fear of death, we lose the vulnerability to fear, to outward circumstances. Instead, we find stability and freedom from the fruits of our practice.

We have a clear choice in responding to fear. We can acknowledge our fears, both external and those within us, accept what is there as difficult as it may be, and consciously choose to skillfully step into those fears as very best as we can. This means embracing our fears, in order to lessen their paralyzing grip on us. This means choosing Love over fear. Every decision basically comes down to this: do I choose Love or fear?

Several websites and support groups are available on the Internet to exchange ideas regarding COPD. The Canadian Lung Association website gives very good and simple methods of carrying out daily chores in an easier way. How to breathe and get over suffocation episodes while sitting, or while walking on the road, how to take your bath without becoming very short of breath, how to get into and out of your car, how to handle the chores in the kitchen, etc. These may be referred to and followed by those who find it useful. I did and I do.